Toad Saged!
by GomuGomuRasenganNoSage
Summary: On the day of Naruto Uzumaki's 7th birthday his parents were killed by one of their archenemies. Only left with his mother telling him to grow into a strong mage he sets out to join Fairy Tail but first he meets a man who teaches him a lost magic, Toad Sage Magic. Don't you know? Toads can kill Dragons. Naruto x Cana
1. The Beginning

**Toad Saged! Chapter 1: The Beginning**

 _October 10, X773_

A blond child grinned in glee as his cerulean blue eyes stared at the birthday candle in awe. He had spiky blond hair which pointed in every direction, cerulean eyes, and three whiskered birthmarks on each chin. The boy was about 6 or now 7 years old as his today was his birthday. Today was Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki's 7th birthday.

Holding him up to his cake was his father who chuckled seeing the expression on his son's face. Minato Namikaze was very identical to his son with the same set of hair and eyes color only missing the whisker marks. However his hair stretched down to two bangs at his side which stopped around his jaw line. Overall he looked like an older version of Naruto, as remarked by his wife.

Kushina Uzumaki closed her eyes and giggled hiding the mirth in her eyes. She had long, vibrant red hair which stopped at around her waist. She was slender yet possessed a feminine physique which were complimented by her violet eyes, and pearly white skin.

In this world, Earthland, where magic was found in many of the world population Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were world-renowned mages. They were actually so popular that many would be surprised to find out that they were independent mages instead of belonging to a guild. Both were easily S-Class Mages in many people's opinions, Minato himself was once offered a Wizard Saints title which he turned down.

However they spoke very fondly of another guild. If Naruto's recollections of the stories his parents told him were correct then this guild was known as Fairy Tail. The son of the two powerful mages would always be hyped to hear another story of their adventures there. Kushina would always speak fondly on how they were treated like a well- knit family there, while Minato would have a blast reminiscing about the many quests he went on.

The single thing they hadn't told Naruto about was the actual reason they left Fairy Tail… approximately seven years ago from the day they were celebrating today. Both Minato and Kushina made many enemies in their famous careers, or rather infamous in the latter's case, in Fairy Tail. It was due to fear of some dark guild attacking and possibly harming their child in revenge which drove them to leave Fairy Tail and settle in a small rural village just around a mile or so away from Hargeon Port in Magnolia.

"Well Naruto-kun make a wish." Kushina said as she moved forward to get a better view of her child. She giggled quietly seeing Naruto pout, cross his arms, and close his eyes in an attempt to think of a wish.

Naruto squirmed in his father's grasp as he spent a few more seconds thinking. Abruptly he opened his eyes with elation and excitement as he finally settled on a wish. Taking a deep breath he prepared to speak.

"I wish that I can become a strong mage, join Fairy Tail, and make Tou-san and Kaa-san proud!" Naruto wished in a joyful tone. Behind him both his parents smiled at the boy's wish. The Uzumaki leaned back and took another deep breath before lunging forward and blowing out the candle which invoked a small cheer from his mother and father.

"That's our boy!" Minato exclaimed as he set his son on the ground. His smile widened seeing Naruto beam a grin towards him at the words.

"Now that you're 7 years old you know what that means!" Kushina said giving Naruto a cheeky Uzumaki grin. Naruto tilted his head before jumping in raw excitement, he bounced in place a few more secnds as his clear blue eyes reflected his elation. "Soon we'll start teaching you magic." Kushina finished with a laugh, she watched Naruto make a fist and thrust it upwards at the announcement. The scarlet-haired mage put a finger onto her skin in thought. "Now what should I teach you first, my _Chain Magic_ or the Uzumaki traditional _Sealing Magic_.

"Awww." Naruto frowned hearing the magic his mother opted to teach him first. He would never forget the demonic stare Kushina gave him hearing him complain about the magic she would teach him, sweat slide down Naruto's right cheek as he held his hands up as if to protect himself from the demon visage which appeared behind his mother. "I-I mean it's not like I don't want to learn your magic but I realy wanted to learn Tou-san's magic first."

Minato simply put a hand down on his son's head as he let out a happy sigh. He honestly could'nt say he was surprised. Naruto had always enjoyed and expressed much interest in his _Flash Magic_. "Sorry Musuko but that's my _Flash Magic_ is a little too experienced for you." Minato rubbed Naruto's head while laughing in response to Naruto's pout.

He was proud at his son for wanting to join Fairy Tail though; hopefully he would get a chance to get something he was denied for the early part of his life… friends. Living in a rather isolated village had many disadvantages all the people in the village were out of Naruto's age range, and even then the blond's parent didn't communicate with the other civilians very much.

The blond _Flash Magic_ user was brought out of his thoughts when the sound of knocking at the door caught his attention. He raised his right brow in dismay, they weren't expecting many guests. Removing his hand from his pouting son Minato walked towards the door fully unprepared for what was to come.

The door swung open forcefully as he neared it and without any time to react the blond felt a hand pierce through his stomach. Minato coughed very harshly as he hack up blood. His head slowly picked itself up as he moved his vision to find who had assaulted him. His eyes widened in shock as he recognized the attacker.

"O-Orochimaru…" The Namikaze slowly said in between a stutter and cough.

The man identified as Orochimaru gave a very deep cackle in reply. Orochimaru was pale in skin color, and had black hair which stretched down to his neck in the front and waist in the back. His eyes were golden and in place of what were normally round pupils were slits. Through his cackle his sharp, possibly fang-like teeth could be seen. For attire he wore light armor, which was short-sleeved, above a black, long shirt. Most noticeably of all was the emblem which was christened upon his breastplate. The symbol seemed to have a black spiral which was sucking in a wizard hat, the same symbol was on the hand which pierced Minato.

Naruto eyes filled with fear as he watched his father being pierced. The young boy froze in fear as only a few seconds later Orochimaru removed the hand which pierced his father's abdomen carelessly. Letting out another maniacal cackle the attacker flicked the blood off of his arm. Minato hacked up a little more blood and quickly gasped for air at the action.

"Naruto… run as far as you can now!" Kushina yelled as she slammed her hand down towards the ground. A red Magic Seal appeared on the ground before several chains erupted out the ground and wrapped themselves around Orochimaru. Kushina turned her face back towards her son, Naruto hadn't expected the rage on her face as she looked at him. "Musuko I said RUN!" Kushina shouted in a fierce, demanding manner.

Naruto slowly nodded in response as his eyes caught sight of his father kneeling and grimacing in pain as he held his wound with his right hand. The young blond's feet turned him around himself and ran at full force on its own. The tears which had quickly welled up in Naruto cerulean eyes softly hit the ground.

With each step he sped up as the trees began to blur in his path more and more. At the same time with each step more and more water slipped out his eyes. Before Naruto even knew it he was standing at the beginning of the mountain which separated the village and Hargeon Port.

'S-Should I get help?" The blond slowly thought, his eyes widened as the realization of what would most likely happen if no help would arrive. 'No, I couldn't get help in time. I have to go back!' He thought with a determined stare. He wiped his now red eyes before turning around to head back only to have his eyes become wide and stark at what was in front of him.

The entire village was on fire…

-Break-

"Is this the proper way you should treat your guest?" Orochimaru asked mockingly. He showed no signs of pain as the chains wrapped around him even tighter. "My, My Kushina it appears your _Chain Magic_ has become quite… "Rusty"." The snake-like man pumped a quite large amount of magic into his forearms before pushing them outwards, he devilishly grinned as the chain burst into pieces as a result.

Dully the snake-like foe lifted his palm in order to telegraph a punch from Minato who disappeared from his spot on the floor and moved into the air in front of Orochimaru. Looking down at his slightly bloodied hand Orochimaru chuckled in interest.

"It appears as though you've improved your _Flash Magic_ from our last meeting Minato. Now you can put _Hirashin Seals_ immediately when people come in contact with you."

The pale adversary smirked as he crushed Minato's fist into his bare hand. A small cackle left his mouth when Minato slightly yelped in pain. Orochimaru swung the arm holding Minato's fist upwards and released his vice causing the blond to quickly ascend then descend through the air. The snake-like foe's next attack was precise yet brutal. Midway through Minato's freefall Orochimaru swiftly leaned and released a quick kick right across the _Flash Magic_ user's wounded abdomen.

"AHHHHHH!"

The bloodcurdling scream of Minato echoed throughout the small house as the said man landed on the ground a clutched his abdomen in pain.

Orochimaru let out another maniacal laughter which overlapped Minato's scream. He menacingly turned his head towards his next target. Now in his sight was the scarlet-haired wife of Minato who was already dashing towards him with a magic coated fist.

"Now now…." Orochimaru said casually as he blocked and parried the barrage of punches of kicks Kushina, his grin grew slightly wider. "We simply want back what was right fully ours."

The _Chain Magic_ user ignored his words as she spotted an opening in his rather secure defense. She continued her flurry of punches for a few seconds before sidestepping towards the right in a full 360. Kushina then swung her open palm towards Orochimaru's exposed right side but the movement proved to no avail. The snake-like foe had grabbed her wrist midway in order to stop the blow; however Kushina's attack was not over.

In a split second a magic circle appeared in front of the _Chain_ mage's hand as Kushina cast another spell. This time a purple chain erupted from her hand and quickly imbedded itself into Orochimaru's arm, ironically the same one which had just previously stabbed Minato.

The scarlet-haired mage smirked seeing her spell hit. That was her _Paralysis Poison Chain_ ; Orochimaru should be paralyzed for a good hour or two. She sighed in relief before removing her fierce demeanor something she would regret only a second later. If only she knew that the one second she lowered her guard would cost her.

Kushina gasped when a purple-coated fist struck her in her gut; simultaneously her eyes widened both in the surprise of Orochimaru's attack and in her own ignorance.

"It seems seven years without practice can really rust a warrior huh? Back in the day the "Demonic Chain Kushina" would never lower her guard before she knocked out her opponent. Not only that but you forgot that I'm immune to all types of poison." Orochimaru shook his head as if he were telling Kushina that she was incorrect, for the first time the entire match his devilish smile disappeared in place of a frown. " _Snake Mercenary: Poison Devastation!"_

The _Snake Mercenary Magic_ user now struck with both his palms targeting Kushina's vulnerable gut. The said _Chain Magic_ braced herself off of pure instinct, with the distance between her and Orochimaru blocking would be like trying to run away from a point blank gunshot.

Kushina was sent flying once the attack landed causing her to crash right into the furniture in the kitchen. She weakly opened her eyes to look at the area where Orochimaru's fist had made contact with to see what appeared to be runes quickly spreading throughout her body. Her simply second of letting down her guard just poisoned her.

The scarlet-mage's vision was then shadowed by the figure of a person with blond hair. It wasn't the figure of her easily recognizable husband… it was the figure of her son Naruto. She slowly shook her head while her eyes widened. Why was he still here?

Naruto had just now realized that his entire body was shaking sub-consciously, he continuously tried to stop it but he simply couldn't. Not only that but he felt weird as he watched his father with no signs of movement on the ground near the entrance of the household. As his eyes moved from his Tou-san to Orochimaru's golden colored, slit-pupil eyes he finally realized what he was feeling.

Fear

"So this is your son?" Orochimaru pointlessly asked. His hair swayed as he moved to get closer and closer towards Naruto who was frozen in his newly discovered fear. His slits scanned Naruto's body from his cerulean eyes, to the triple whisker marks. "He looks just like Minato. Well then you'll be next to your father's side so-"

Abruptly a foot was implanted into the _Snake Mercenary_ mage's face which interrupted his sentence and knocked him out of the Namikaze Household. The foot belonged to Minato Namikaze who stared at the area where Orochimaru landed with determined, fierce eyes.

"Naruto leave now! I won't last much longer!" Minato yelled, he didn't turn around to look at his son for a last time. He refused to let his son see the several stream of tears running down his face. His wound was still open a he was losing too much blood, his shirt was already coated in dry and fresh blood stains.

"Last… much… longer?"Naruto said in a tone of great disbelief shook his head as he took another step back, his eyes for the second time that day began to water. He looked down to see his hands trembling even faster. As tears began slowly slipping down his face he felt a warm embrace from behind. "Head over the mountain and ask for directions to Fairy Tail from there."

"Lucky this poison isn't contagious." Kushina sighed weakly in relief. The poison runes now covered her entire torso and had begun stretching down towards her legs. She turned her son around a put up a weak smile as she denied the sadness that crept into her. "Musuko… please don't cry… it might be hard but I promise it'll get better."

Naruto's didn't know what to think… here his mother was poisoned on the verge of death and she was still worried about him despite the fact that she was wasting her last few words on him. Was he happy at the fact that they cared for him so much or was sad?

"Remember what you wished for… Join Fairy Tail… and become a strong mage… and remember that Tou-san and Kaa-san will always be proud of you." Kushina finished with a bold smile.

Naruto nodded at his mother words before using his sleeves to wipe away any tears which remained. He stood up rather solemnly and walked towards the door which he exited earlier. His heart hung heavy, and his eyes were downcast, yet Naruto turned around to look at both of his parents for one final time before rushing to the mountains. He thought what he couldn't say.

'Goodbye Tou-san, Kaa-san.'

-Break-

Naruto let out a heavy, tired sigh as he leaned against a tree. This was his first time taking a breather in over 3 hours of walking through the mountain's wilderness. He was determined to reach Hargeon before sunrise but that was looking like a dream at this point. Not to mention he was hungry.

It was ominously quiet now as the only sound which accompanied earlier was the snapping of twigs he stepped on and the patter of his footsteps as he journeyed through the small forest.

Letting out another sigh the blond turned his head towards the night sky. The only thing lighting his way was the brilliant light of the full moon. He would be lying if he were to say he wasn't sad or he didn't feel like crying, he was only a 7 year old boy it was understandable; however he wouldn't cry he made a promise and he wouldn't go against it.

Just then the rustling of bushes and the sound of the snapping of a twig drew out Naruto's attention. The whiskered soon to be Fairy Mage raised his awareness before remembering he didn't know any magic. Quickly he cast the thought aside as a figure walked out of the wilderness.

What appeared was a tall man with waist-length, white hair tied back in a ponytail. Two shoulder length bangs framed the sides of his face. On his head was a forehead protector carrying the kanji of oil and running down his eyes were red lines. He wore a short kimono shirt, which was covered by a red haori, and matching pants. He also had hand guards, a black belt over his waist, and for shoes had traditional red Japanese geta. A noticeable mention was the wart on the left side of his nose.

"Who the hell are you?" The man addressed bluntly while raising his right brow.

Naruto simply looked at the man for a single second before standing up and walking right past the man without speaking a word causing the man's previously raised eyebrow to twitch.

"Hey gaki where exactly are you manners? Don't you know that you should respect your elders?" The man, ironically, questioned on manners. Naruto simply scoffed in reply before continuing to walking along. "Alright, Alright calm down I just want to know why a kid like you is wandering out here so late."

Naruto turned around a looked at the man with a slight scowl on his face. "I'm heading towards Hargeon Port to ask directions to a guild called Fairy Tail." Naruto informed.

'Fairy Tail huh? Well lucky you, you're staring at one of its mages right now. I'm the Toad Sage of Fairy Tail Jiraiya!" The now known Jiraiya announced with pride as he posed and swung his spiky, white, hair in a full circle, mid-way he performed a pose. And to prove that he was a member he removed the hi-ate to display a grey colored Fairy Tail insignia.

"You really are a Fairy Tail mage!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement as he gazed at the insignia eagerly. The proclaimed "Toad Sage" of Fairy Tail sweat dropped at the 180 degree flip Naruto's tone took after finding out he was from the guild. "Did you know my parents? They were from Fairy Tail too! The "Yellow Flash" and "Red Hot Habenaro" Minato and Kushina!" The son of the two mages gave a prideful smile when he mentioned there titles.

Jiraiya on the other hand was left with a look of dumbfound. He almost cast the boy's words as fake until he took another look at the blond's face. The resemblance that the boy had to Minato was uncanny and now that the Toad Sage thought of it the brash behavior he had shown earlier was a very notable trait of Kushina. It was also mentionable that Minato and Kushina had informed him that they had a kid.

"You must be Naruto!" Jiraiya placed a hand on Naruto's head, rubbed his hair, and grinned. There was still one question on Jiraiya's mind though. "Why are you trying to get to Fairy Tail by yourself?"

Naruto's previously prideful smile vanished as his mood tensed which didn't go unnoticed by Jiraiya's trained eye. The Uzumaki's head dropped as his blond hair shadowed his azure eyes. The blond was so engulfed by the mention of the guild he earnestly wanted to joined that when he brought his parents up he had forgotten about the events which had transpired a few hours earlier.

-Break-

Jiraiya was in a state of grief and sadness as he walked with Naruto towards Hargeon. Sunrise had just began with the sun slightly peeking out behind the horizon. The Toad Sage and Naruto hadn't spoken the word for about an hour or two yet the last words Naruto spoke still stuck in his mind.

"… _They died."_

It was impossible to believe but the Uzumaki couldn't have been lying. The sadness of his voice, his tenseness, and the look in his eyes were enough to know that he was telling the truth. Jiraiya desperately wanted to ask for where they had lived and rush to the location in order to confirm the information but he couldn't simply allow Naruto to wonder through the mountains alone.

Jiraiya had last seen Minato and Kushina seven years ago, the day which they had left the guild so it pained him even more that he never got to see them one last time.

The Toad Sage shook his head out of the sorrowful thoughts to make an attempt to break the oddly uncomfortable silence between him and Naruto. "So what type of magic do you use?"

Naruto stopped in his tracks at the words as he turned to Jiraiya with a sheepish smile and scratch to his hair. "I-I don't exactly know any magic." He stuttered hesitantly as he spoke the words and gave a small laugh which was just as hesitant.

"So what exactly did you plan to do once you got to the guild?" Jiraiya questioned while giving Naruto a blank look. The blond simply continued to look at Jiraiya silently as if the two were in a staring contest. "Wow…" Jiraiya was taken aback by how lax Naruto was being with him even though being with him even though his parents had died.

"Well I guess I could teach you my magic…" Jiraiya spoke. He felt obliged to teach the boy magic, he was Minato and Kushina's son after all and the boy seemed like he really wanted to join Fairy Tail… and yet at the same time he felt like he was doing this out of guilt, sub-consciously he felt as though it was somewhat his fault that they had died.

"R-Really!" Naruto said. He was mixed with shock and excitement at those words. The first step to fulfilling his dream of becoming a strong mage was to learn some sort of magic first not to mention that it was necessary requirement to even join the guild of his dreams.

"I'll explain some details of the training on the way there but I guess the real thing you want to know is what magic you'll be learning right." Naruto nodded hastily and Jiraiya smirked at the spark of determination in the blond's eye. "It's Oil Toad Sage magic!" He announced pridefully.

"Toads…" Naruto replied with a somewhat bored expression. He had been told by his parents about several types of magic and they would often tell him about _Lost Magic_. They would tell him how magic such as _Dragon Slayer,_ and _God Slayer magic_ existed but instead he would learn magic related to toads not very exciting.

"What's with the bored expression?" Jiraiya asked sarcastically. "Don't you know that _Toads kill Dragons_?"

 **A/N: Just a small fic I had lying around since last summer decided to upload it because why not. Don't expect many updates unless I really feel like it. The 2** **nd** **chapter is nearly done I just need to add some finishing touches even though I haven't worked on it in a while.**


	2. Friends

**Toad Saged! Chapter 2: Friends**

 _December 15, X773_

"What do you mean you're not staying!" Naruto yelled as his clutched fist trembled.

"You heard me right kiddo, this is your last stop with me." Jiraiya nonchalantly said while only slightly grimacing at Naruto's shout. This wasn't going to be easy.

It was early in the morning and the master and student now stood in front of the infamous guild Fairy Tail, or to be more specific, the guild that Naruto had dreamed of joining since his parents told him about their adventures in the guild. While it wasn't unusual that loud voices came from the direction of the guild, many townsfolk had stopped to stare at the two in wonder, some watching through the windows having woken up to the yelling and other stopping their morning walks to look.

"You're just gonna leave me?" Naruto slowly spoke in between bated breaths. His eyes no longer were pointed towards his master, now they were locked into a dead stare with the ground.

"Look I have a mission… An incredibly dangerous mission that I'm going to be out on and I can't risk you getting hurt. Minato and Kushina would never let me live it down." Jiraiya replied with a sad tone as he muttered the last few words to himself.

"Then take me with you! Ya know, I'd rather do that then join some stupid guild any-" Naruto began before he felt an open palm forcefully hit his stomach. In the blink of an eye, an explosion erupted from Jiraiya palm and the blond boy was sent flying into the door of the guild.

Makarov Dreyer was left in shock as he watched a young, blond boy crash into the guild hall through the front of the door. He rushed over to the boy in fear before his eyes scanned towards the direction he had come from and he stared in disbelief.

There glaring directly at Naruto, evidently not having taken notice of Makarov, was Jiraiya, who hadn't stepped an inch into Magnolia in the past three years.

"Jiraiya just what the hell is going on." Makarov said taking a protective stance in front of the blond.

The white-haired sage ignored the guild master and walked into the guild, eyes still piercing Naruto intensely. He reached over Makarov, which was rather easy with the guild master's size, and picked up the blond from the collar of his shirt.

"Oi, look me dead in the eye and tell me that you're not lying." Jiraiya stated. Naruto replied with silence. "That's what I thought…" Jiraiya placed the blond gently into Makarov's hands, his glare was now replaced with a small smile. "That's more like it."

And as if nothing had happened Jiraiya nonchalantly walked towards the exit before turning his head one more time, looking at Makarov, shaking his head in the "No" formation, and tossing a letter behind him.

"Naruto, one last thing… You better make your parents damn proud."

 _December 19, X773_

Cana Alberona was bored.

As the brunette used a table in the guild as a rest for her head she ignored the ongoing cheery conversations and fight which were common practice in the guild or at least a common practice for the others. The problem was that the other guild members were much older than her meaning she didn't really have anyone to converse with. Usually Cana would take on a request to ignore the loneliness and boredom but even then, her _Card Magic_ wasn't the strongest so she couldn't take too many requests.

And then there was him… the very person she didn't dare have the guts to reveal herself as his daughter. She hadn't expected her father to be such a famous and strong mage but when she found out any courage she had to reveal her lineage was drained. That was the main reason she had even decided to join the guild.

So, there she was stuck in her thoughts which, unknown to her, caused her to not notice the newest member of the guild approaching her.

"Are you Cana Alberona?" She heard an unfamiliar voice next to her call her name.

Cana lifted her eyes to see Naruto stare at her with a rather questioning look and a tilted head. The face posture made Cana giggle slightly before answering with a curious smile.

"Well I'm a new guild member and-. " Naruto began his explanation before abruptly pausing. Using innate instinct, the blond ducked to just barely miss a bottle whiz over his head. The blond turned around to watch another massive fight ensue at the guild only to receive a glass bottle to the face.

Cana giggled even more as Naruto dust any glass pieces on his face and picked up a glass bottle from the ground. The blond's cerulean eyes scanned around the area for a target before chucking the glass bottle at a blue-haired man.

Bulls-eye.

Naruto turned around to see the girl known as Cana laughing, so shrugging Naruto continued his act by putting his hand into the shape of a gun, blowing his fingertip, and pocketing it. He grinned as the girl clutched her side midway in full-blown laughter. Once her laughter subsided Naruto continued saying what he was saying earlier.

"Like I was saying I'm a new guild member and Jiji-san told me to ask you for a tour." The blond finished, he had spent the past two days in Makarov's house sulking over his conversation with Jiraiya and his departure, but now was ready to officially join the guild.

Cana froze… somebody pinch her, was she dreaming? Somebody in her age group had finally joined the guild.

"Cana?" Naruto questioned looking at Cana's frozen face, when he received no answer he called her name again to no avail. So, doing the first thing that came to mind he flicked her in the forehead.

"Ouch." Cana uttered as she rubbed her head. She blushed realizing she had zoned out in her own thoughts. "A-Anyway welcome to Fairy Tail…?" Cana stretched out both her hand and her sentence.

"Naruto, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." The blond said with a grin as he shook her hand. "Glad to be here!"

"And this is South Gate Park." Cana informed. She put on a cheery smile when two children ran around the park, when one fell the other helped him back up before they began running again.

Cana had brought Naruto all around Magnolia, from the cake shop, which Naruto happily stuffed his face with cake in, to Kardia Cathedral and even the entrance of East Forest; however, Cana had to literally drag Naruto out of the latter, to his adventurous protest. The whole tour of sorts was rather fun and easy, she had resided in Magnolia so long that it was easy to navigate through. Overall Cana had enjoyed her time with the blond; she couldn't believe how much time had gone by.

"Hey, Cana?" Naruto more questioned than asked, he sat down on the bench and turned his gaze towards the ground when Cana's on looked at him. He swung his hand back a forth before finally speaking. "Why were you so sad back at the guild?" He slightly regretted asking the question when he witnessed her brunette her shadow her eyes. "B-But you don't need to answer it." He hastily said.

The question had been burning up inside of him the entire time they Cana had toured him through Magnolia. When he first approached and saw her for the small fraction of a second he saw a tint of sadness in her eyes, not to mention that while the guild was in a rather cheery mood she was the only person sitting by herself.

"N-No its ok." The brunette said, her eyes were still downcast when she sat down on the bench next to Naruto. Naruto grew a slightly worried face seeing Cana stay silent and nervously pluck at her dress. "I don't have many friends in the guild." She confessed after a short while, while her eyes were no longer downcast she still continuously, and nervously, plucked at the ends of her dress.

"It seems like a small portion of that problem is already solved." Naruto jumped off his seat next to Cana abruptly leaving his brunette companion confused. He closed his eyes as he turned to her and nodded several times while a small smile plastered itself on his face. "I mean I am your friend now, aren't I? I can promise I won't be the last."

Cana blushed slightly at his words, and the massive grin which now marked his face before returning a smile of her own to her…

Friend.

"You can tell fortunes?!" Naruto asked a hint of childish tone of interest in his voice. Cana nodded in reply with a prideful smile seeing how interested he was with her magic. She felt obliged to take his fortunes.

Makarov chuckled from his position on the bar counter as he watched Naruto pout when he didn't understand the fortune Cana had given him. He was extremely happy that Cana had finally found a person she could casually talk to. He was always worried when Cana just sat in the same table and spoke to no one. Why? Well just like every other member of the guild she was one of his children, and shouldn't a parent always worry about their child.

"I use Toad Sage magic." Naruto informed, he held out both his open palms as he prepared to demonstrate his own magic. In his left and right palm, a small orb composed of oil and fire erupted to life. "It combines the elements of oil, fire, and water."

Cana looked at the orbs of oil and fire curiously; the magic Naruto described seemed all too familiar to her. She could have sworn that she knew someone else who knew the magic. She opened her mouth to speak on the matter before being interrupted by Makarov hopping onto the table.

"If you don't mind me asking Naruto, who taught you that magic?" Macao asked curiously.

"Ero-sennin..." Naruto said before diminishing the elements in his hand and slumping onto the table. He sighed remember how that was the personal nickname he had given his mentor. "Jiraiya." Naruto smacked his lips in distaste saying that name was almost foreign to him now.

Many of the older members of the guild did a spit take at the name.

Cana pondered on the name for a second, she did remember hearing about a man named Jiraiya in the guild who occasionally flaunted his self-proclaimed title "Toad Sage".

"That reminds me… Ero-sennin wanted me to say hi to some Gildarts person for him. Bastard didn't even tell me what he looked like." Naruto mumbled the last part silently in an annoyed tone. He missed Cana stay in an uncomfortable silence after hearing the name in favor of Makarov's response.

"You just missed him he left on a request yesterday; usually he's gone for a week or two." Makarov informed almost apologetically, Naruto waved the man's tone off; if Ero-sennin wanted to talk to someone he could do it himself.

"Anyway, on another matter." Makarov said, bringing the attention back to him. Using his _Titan Magic,_ he extended his right hand which held a mug full of beer, in unison every other member of the guild rose their own mugs and beer bottles as well. "In honor of our new member Naruto let's party!"

Naruto allowed an unsettled grin to mark his face hearing the words, and he sheepishly scratched his hair with a nervous demeanor as everyone simply stared at him waiting for to say something. The blond's azure eyes rotated across the entire hall… everyone was looking at him.

From behind Naruto felt to hands push him forward closer to his new guild members, and when Naruto turned around he was only met with a wink from Cana. He took a single deep inhale and exhale and gulped before speaking,

"H-Hello I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki glad to make your acquaintance." The new Fairy Tail Mage stuttered and bowed simultaneously. Naruto held his position for a few seconds when no movement or sound was heard.

"Cheers!" The combined shouts of the Fairy Tail mages were heard across the guild hall. The sounds of many mugs and beer bottles colliding were heard constantly afterwards.

Naruto smiled seeing how loose the guild's members were as many walked over to him to greet, introduce themselves to him, and welcome him. Deep in his mind he already certain that he was going to like it there.

Throughout the day Naruto had met many people…

There was Macao Conbolt, who Naruto recognized as the guy he had thrown a glass bottle at earlier. Macao was a very nice and friendly and had even offered to show him around the guild; however, Naruto politely declined saying he wanted to get accustomed to the guild own his own. When the blue-haired mage asked Cana how see was doing the brunette gave a nervous stutter and blushed before answering.

Then there was also, Macao's drinking buddy Wakaba Mine who Naruto quickly realized as a pervert. Wakaba, as odd as it was, was a huge Jiraiya fan, he praised the Toad Sage for his critically acclaimed "Icha Icha" series books.

"And where do you want your guild stamp place at Naruto and in what color?" Makarov questioned as he held the stamp near a selection of different colored ink pads.

"Where's yours Cana?" Naruto asked and the brunette blushed lightly and pointed to the right side of her stomach. Naruto pondered for a second before pointing towards his bellybutton proudly. "Orange please!"

But as the sun finally set and the moon arose along with the numerous stars which lit up the night sky Naruto finally found that it was the time to go.

The blond smiled as he waved a goodbye to Cana who returned the gesture before happily skipping off to her apartment in Fairy Hills. Naruto hadn't realized how late it had gotten while he was talking to Cana every other person besides Makarov and Naruto himself had left the guild hall.

"Well Jiji I'm heading out." Naruto stood up and walked towards the door. Makarov let out a light nod as the new Fairy Mage reached towards his pockets and pulled out a small note. He read it over a few times quickly while he fully exited the guild, quickly he nodded, looked around the dimly lit Magnolia streets and walked towards his next destination.

The guild master of Fairy Tail watched his newest child wander into sunset till he disappeared with a sad smile. In his right hand, he very weakly pulled a note of his own into his line of sight and read it over for most likely the 10th or so time in two days.

A single tear found its way onto the letter wetting the bottom of the parchment. Makarov read the words Jiraiya wrote in silent disbelief and grief, and even as he read the words in his mind over and over he still couldn't believe what he had read.

How could Minato and Kushina have died?

Naruto's eyes continuously moved between the address placed on his note and the address put on an Apartment Building. They matched. The blond entered the building to be met with a very lackluster lobby, the floor was black with several pieces of papers scattered across the ground, the walls were badly painted with splotches of paint bordering the walls, and to top it all off a chubby, small man was sitting in a desk snoring very loudly.

"Um excuse me?" Naruto asked in a silent tone as he approached the presumable landlord of the apartment.

The chubby man's eyes snapped open at the single question causing Naruto to take a small step back for some comfort. As his snoring ended abruptly the man grabbed his rounded glasses and decided to look at the boy in front of him.

"And yes, what can I do for you?" He asked as he began moving and shuffling the papers on his desks not paying Naruto much attention.

"Ero… er… Jiraiya informed me that he had a room here reserved for me." Naruto informed as his eyes subconsciously twitched at being ignored. The chubby man gave Naruto a simple skeptical face before the Namikaze handed him a second note he had read through earlier.

"It appears Jiraiya-san did indeed reserve you a room… follow me." The man rummaged through his desk drawers and pulled out a key before gesturing for Naruto to follow him up the staircase. With each step, a creak could be heard from the wooden staircase and it only appeared to get louder as they got closer to their destination.

"And here is your keys Mr..." The chubby man said as they finally reached what would be the room Naruto resided in.

"Naruto, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." The boy answered as he took the keys, put it into the keyhole, and opened the door to his new room while the landlord walked back downstairs without another word. Now by himself Naruto found a new silence only accompanied by the creeks of the staircase. Naruto shrugged before walking into his room's interior.

Oh, what a bastard Ero-Sennin was…

The walls were lined with posters of females who were fully clothes to moderately clothed to leaving little to imagine. Papers filled with notes and photos of every kind were scattered across the floor, Naruto didn't even think about reading any as he shamelessly ripped down every poster with heavily flushed cheeks.

Other than the perverse decor the apartment had 3 small sections besides the main "lobby", there was a kitchen housing a few dusty bowls and plates along with an oven, stove, and microwave. The cupboards lining the kitchen walls were empty, to Naruto's dismay. The bathroom was simple, a toilet, a bathtub, and a sink. Finally, to top it off was the bedroom which had a single, untidy bed and nothing else.

'It's better than I thought it would be.' Naruto gave his first impression before falling onto his bed exhausted.

Naruto looked at the request board with a sour look as he skimmed through the possible requests he could take. What his parents or most specifically Minato told him about request being filled with adventure was a huge overstatement.

 _Help deliver Milk Cartons_

 _Assist gardeners with planting plant seeds_

 _Find Cat Tora_

For some reason Naruto felt as though he should stay away from that last request at all costs. Nonetheless none of these requests seemed the least bit of fun; however, he needed the money as Jiraiya only left enough funds to last the rent of the apartment for a week.

A paper which waved in front of his face caught his attention, the owner of the paper, Cana, looked at him and smiled as she gave him the paper. He took and read it over.

 _Collect Herbs in East Forest- Reward 15,000 Jewels_

Naruto would've groaned at the lame mission until his brain comprehended how much money he would be making for a job as simple as picking herbs. That was enough money to cover his rent for two months, the rent was surprisingly cheap to make up for the shabby apartment.

Naruto nodded at his brunette-haired friend and nodded as a grin replaced his previously solidified sour look. He walked towards the bar counter where the small figure of Makarov stood on a bar stool while casually drinking and watching his guild which was cheery as ever.

"Jiji I'll be taking this request." Naruto gleefully waved the paper in front of his guild master's face.

Makarov took another sip of his drink before responding. "Alright, and since this is your first request I'm assuming that you're going along with Cana." He noted the brunette who was right beside him. Both the _Toad Sage_ and _Card Magic_ users nodded. "Well then be careful." Both gave Makarov a second nod before heading out the guild door.

The temperature in Magnolia was surprisingly warm despite being in Late-December and the clouds were as clear as ever despite it having lightly snowed the other day. For the most part, the clear weather left most of those who resided in Magnolia in a happy mood except one person, except for one strange person.

Gray Fullbuster had spiky, black hair accompanied by dark blue eyes. He wore a blue t-shirt under a white jacket, and black pants; however, the most notable feature he had was the huge scowl on his face.

"Hey you! Do you know where Fairy Tail is?!" Gray abruptly shouted and questioned to the first person he saw. In his sight were a blond, spiky haired male and a brunette female who stared back at him in confusion.

"W-Where's your clothes?" Naruto bluntly replied as he stared back at Gray. Gray looked at him with a questioning look before looking down at his bare torso and finally noticed that he was only in his boxers.

"Ah man not again!" Gray groaned. He looked up when he heard the laughter of the brunette and scowled even more than last time. "It's not that funny!"

"Hey, hey calm down." Naruto said waving his hands in defense with a sheepish smile. The smile disappeared when Gray looked back towards him with a look of irritation, Naruto noticed the tick mark popping of his forehead.

"I won't calm down till you answer my question!" Naruto now looked at the boy with a small bit of irritation of his own. The guy was really pushing him to his limits.

"That really isn't a good way to ask someone a question ya know." The Namikaze crossed his arm and raised an eyebrow seeing the boy take a step backwards, close his right fist, and put his left palm under it.

"If you won't answer my question I'll make you answer it!" Gray shouted. Now a whole crowd of people were surrounding the area they were in and staring at the scene before them.

Cana was baffled at how the situation had boiled so quickly but snapped out of her stupor when she noticed a white mist emit from Gray's hand, she gasped when she realized that he was concentrating some type of magic into his hand. A magic battle was normally fine but many normal citizens were right around them someone could get hurt.

"I can show you where Fairy Tail is!" Cana interjected, flicking both Naruto and Gray in the head.

"Finally, someone with manners." Gray said, rubbing his head in pain, before grunting at Naruto. Cana lightly sighed in relief as she saw the misty magical energy forming around Gray's palm dissipate.

"Hey idiot, no shirt, no shoes, no service!" Naruto yelled at a half-naked Gray who began following Cana to the guild.

"Crap!" Gray yelled flustered before rushing to collect and throw on his clothes.

Cana giggled at her friend's antics before speaking, "I'll meet you in the forest for the mission when I'm done!"

"Naruto!" Cana yelled across the forest causing a few animals to flee from the area. She looked around in slight confusion hoping to catch a glimpse of her blond friend to no avail. Hopefully he wasn't lost. She gently brought a small package to her face and ripped it open. After she had brought Gray to Fairy Tail she had stopped at a Card Magic shop; they were having a sale she just couldn't miss.

She wasn't surprised at the fact that almost every single card in the pack was a common duplicate she already had, however the final card in the pack caught her eye.

The card depicted a lone man in ragged clothing carrying a stick on his back as a dog followed him from behind. The rising sun in the background simmered with warmth the more she stared into it.

 _0_ _th_ _Major Arcana: The Fool_

She beamed at her luck with the pack she bought in a little disbelief. _The Fool_ was one of the twenty-two _Major Arcana Cards,_ number 0 to be precise. It had always been her dream to collect them after her mother had told her that she had managed to get another _Major Arcana Card_ while she was a mage, but it was lost a while before Cana was born.

Then her elation turned into mild confusion, only one of copy of each _Major Arcana Card_ existed, and it made no sense for one them to be within a pack of cards.

Abruptly her attention turned from her card to her actual location. She noticed that she was most likely in a deeper part of the forest with the trees being much taller, and even older with signs of moss growing on the trunks of the trees.

" _Toad Sage: Flame Bomb_!"

Cana rushed further into the forest at the sound of her friend's voice echoing through the forest. As she ran further towards the direction of the sound she couldn't help but feel the ground shake lightly beneath her feet and the shaking only grew in intensity as she got closer and closer.

And when she finally spotted Naruto she froze in fear. Several small craters were spotted on the ground most likely done by a large fist. Traces of oil could even be found on the ground as well but instead of being like puddles of oil it was more like tracks. Her gaze didn't stay on that though; it was focused on Naruto who was fighting a Forest Vulcan.

"Cana?" The brunette heard Naruto call her name, the blond jumped back to dodge another fist from the Vulcan. "What took you so long?" Naruto was oblivious to the fear on her face, and to the fact that she hadn't paid attention to what he said.

"W-Why are you fighting a Forest Vulcan?" She stuttered as she pointed a shaky finger towards the said monster. She tried to take a few breaths to calm herself down.

"Well it tried to attack me first so I decided I should teach it a little lesson." Naruto gave the Vulcan a slight glare before returning his attention to Cana. "Don't worry I can handle it, I don't think this Vulcan is very smart it keeps using the same attacks."

Naruto didn't allow Cana to respond as he quickly moved to continue his assault on the Vulcan. He quickly sidestepped a fist from the monster and accelerated his run by using some magic to create some oil beneath his feet to slide across the ground.

To continue the blond used his _Toad Sage: Fire Bomb_ to send three balls of flame towards the Vulcan who easily swatted each of them away but that attack was simply a distraction which allowed Naruto to advance closer.

The Namikaze seeing his opportunity gathered a small bit of magic into his hand and launched his fist towards the abdomen of the Vulcan. The small impact caused the Vulcan to slightly lose balance and slide back a bit. And Naruto didn't let down his assault one bit. He cocked back his head and launched it forward to shoot his _Toad Sage: Oil Bullet._ Oil now covered the Vulcan's abdomen, and shoulders.

The Vulcan seethed in anger as he looked at the oil on his body now before turning his aggressive gaze towards the one who caused it. The monster swiped its right arm towards the Uzumaki who just barely manage to duck in time to dodge the attack which grazed his head.

When the Vulcan moved his arm back to its normal position by his side he noticed Naruto had disappeared from his sight. Its attack hadn't contacted the blond at all so, where was he?

"Right here." Naruto appeared. He hung from the bottom of the Vulcan's arm attached by a single palm; the blond had used his oil to stick onto it. Flipping onto the top of the arm Naruto advanced once more using the large arm of the Vulcan as a platform.

The blond once again gathered oil on his feet to accelerate his motion; the boost of speed had allowed him to evade the Vulcan's other hand. When the Uzumaki had approached the head, he moved to land a strike with his leg; however, the Vulcan's hand had grabbed his leg just before it collided with its head.

Naruto couldn't even process a thought before the Vulcan slammed him into the ground with enough force to break the ground beneath him. The Vulcan continued to sustain his grip on the Naruto's leg and with a grin on its face flung Naruto into a tree near Cana.

"Naruto!" Cana screamed as she hastily ran over to where Naruto had landed. She slightly cursed herself as all she could do was watch the blond's fight.

When she made it to the area where Naruto was she watched him spit out a bit of blood and wipe the blood off his chin. He grunted at the pain inflicted to him before dusting his clothes.

"Naruto, I think we should get out of here." Cana quavered as she noticed the Vulcan stampeding in their direction. Naruto nodded quickly and moved to head away from the giant as fast as he could alongside Cana.

The wear and tear was starting to show itself however, as Naruto staggered slightly to keep pace with Cana with the Vulcan gaining on him. The brunette bit her lip seeing Naruto stagger, and hesitantly slowed in her tracks to let Naruto get ahead.

"Cana what're you doing?" Naruto questioned as he continued to stumble forward.

"At this rate, he's going to grab you again, and you're already out of magic." Cana informed with sharp, fearful breaths as the Vulcan got closer. "I'll distract him." The brunette could feel the sore lump in her throat as she waved her arms in the air like a madman, and ran east of Naruto and grabbed the beast's attention.

She was shaking in her boots, but she'd be damned if she was going to let her already injured friend take any more damage while she ran away.

The Vulcan growled in anger as it shifted its eyes from Naruto to Cana, and in a swift but heavy movement leapt into the air towards her.

With a final gulp, Cana gripped a card and thrusted it forward towards the Vulcan, " _THE FOOL!"_ She shouted and let her magic flow into the card. The area around her lit up with a silver glow as two shapes zipped from Cana's card and propelled towards the Vulcan.

Cana's eyes winced before the silver hue died down and she smiled in shock seeing two magical hands, silver in a translucent shade, slapped the Vulcan back and forth and then punch the beast away. She blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't dreaming, and collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. The silver hands hovered around her and then faded from existence quickly afterwards. Naruto stumbled over as fast as he could.

"Cana, that was awesome!" Naruto yelled in excitement as he helped her get on her feet. His demeanor quickly changed to panic, "This is all my fault Cana, I'm sorry."

She smiled, albeit weakly, before replying. "Its fine just don't do reckless stuff again." She spoke in between pants. That spell had used up a lot of her magic supply. Naruto hastily nodded and her weak smile widened. "Anyway, lets' get out of here before that thing wakes up." She pointed at the now unconscious Vulcan.

The two had decided to rest in Naruto's apartment, as Naruto didn't want to incur Makarov's wrath for being reckless during a mission.

" _Major Arcana Cards?_ " Naruto repeated Cana's words.

Cana nodded eagerly as she stared at _The Fool_ in wonder and excitement, "My mother was a _Card_ user as well, and when she was still a part of a guild she had a different one. She lost it before I was born though." The Alberona smiled lightly as she reminisced on the memory of her mother. Naruto stared at his best friend with a caring smile in understanding. From the tone of her voice, and the reminiscing smile she donned he could tell that her mother had passed.

"She passed just around a year ago, and since then I joined Fairy Tail to tell my father about it but the truth is he doesn't even know I'm his father." She somberly spoke breaking the strangely comforting silence, the grip on her card loosened.

The blond frowned at the words, he couldn't imagine a world where his mother or father didn't know that they were his child. He wanted to know who the person was but decided he had pried into her life enough.

"My mother and father were… they passed away two months." The Namikaze interrupted his sentence by shaking his head, and changing it. He didn't want the nightmares of the event to return to his dreams by mentioning the killer. "I was heading towards Fairy Tail since my parents always told me stories about their adventures while they were guild members. Then I met Jiraiya… and it was like the passing of my parents never happened." Naruto smiled as the memories of his time with Jiraiya returned to him.

"I'm not sure if that's a bad or good thing but after a while I didn't want to join Fairy Tail, I just wanted to adventure with him. But I forgot the promise I made to my parents." He clutched the side of his jacket. "I'm going to make them proud by becoming the best Fairy Tail mage there is!"

Cana looked at Naruto with awe at his conviction. And within the declaration she could still sense some sadness, sorrow, and even regret but she could still tell that it was genuine.

"Naruto, from now on lets team up whenever we do missions." Cana said to the surprise of her friend.

"Y-You mean it?" The brunette nodded back to Naruto in reply before Naruto spoke again," We're going need a team name though." Naruto pointed out which bewildered both him and Cana.

And so, the two friends sat there in an incredibly non-creative stupor, taking hours to even think of a possible name that was even decent.

 **A/N: Randomly felt like updating this again, so I revamped an old edition of Chapter 2 which I hadn't posted and voila. Chapter 3, 4, and maybe 5, and 6 should be posted soon but who knows. Now onto the things pertaining to the story**

 **I wanted to give Cana something to build towards and power up with and since Card Magic in Fairy Tail wasn't really touched upon I decided to give my own twist on it with the Major Arcana Tarot Cards being new additions to it. Card Magic is Holder Magic just like using Celestial Keys to summon spirits so it's not implausible that it would have rare cards like the 13 Zodiac keys. I also may bring in the Minor Arcana cards but that's for later. I hope to expand on Card Magic as time goes on.**

 **A fun fact is that I choose The Fool as Cana's first Arcana card other than the fact that it is the first Tarot card. The Fool's symbolism pertains to the protagonist and the beginning of one's adventure like how Cana and Naruto's journey is just beginning to start now. I hope to introduce more of the Arcana cards in this way.**


	3. Acts of Selfishness

**Toad SAGED! Chapter Three: Acts of Selfishness**

 _December 25_ _th_ _X773_

In the somber sunset displayed near Hargeon Port two silhouettes walked across a small mountain range. The first silhouette, appearing to be a man with long, spiky hair, was walking seriously but briskly, the other appeared to be a busty woman who walked drunkenly while taking a swig of ale every few steps. At this point the air around the two reeked of alcohol.

"If you're looking for a right place to propose the answer is still no." The bust, blonde-haired woman abruptly said after taking another swig increasing the flush on her cheeks.

Jiraiya chuckled lightly before regaining his serious demeanor. "Tsunade, trust me, I've learned that nothing is going to work with you." He said replying to her sentence. "But the reason I brought you here is much more important than some silly marriage proposal, if you weren't so damn hard to find then I'd have shown you the place already."

Tsunade raised a drunken brow before Jiraiya paused his walk and scanned the area right in front of him. The woman blinked her eyes a few times, brushing away the blurry vision, to look at the sight in horror.

The entire village was burnt down. Debris covered the streets that had once brimmed with life, houses and small huts toppled onto one another in heaps, and the color of charred black encompassed the area, and the surrounding forest. Tsunade pinched her nose as the smell of burnt decay began to creep into her nostrils.

Tsunade tucked away her cask of ale and Jiraiya nodded seeing his childhood friend gain a strict demeanor. He leapt into the middle of the village with her following behind.

"I scouted the area for signs of who or what did this already so you don't have to worry about looking at… the casualties." Jiraiya gave a precarious glance back at Tsunade to make sure she was OK. She wobbled a bit but Jiraiya wasn't sure if it was because her fear of blood, or the remnants of her drunken state.

"There's one house that we need to check." Jiraiya pointed to the only house which looked like it had suffered the least from the fire damage., it looked disheveled but it was still standing in contrast to everything else.

Tsunade entered the house and was met with a smell of less decay and more irony, it was a smell all too familiar. She turned away ready to leave the house but Jiraiya placed his hand on her wrist.

"Tsunade, I'm sorry but please… I need you to identify the contents of the blood." The toad sage begged as he squeeze her shoulder in comfort.

She nodded and took a deep breath, before approaching the lobby of the house.

The floors were streaked with dry blood, which had been emitting the irony smell, and the interior was a mess. The front door was I n shred, chair tossed in haste, and even crack beneath the ground.

Lowering herself, Tsunade's hand glowed with a warm yellow light before slime slowly began to secrete from her hand, and, in noticeable discomfort, she rubbed the slime across some of the dried blood. She remained there for a minute, but it felt like an eternity to herself, before slowly standing up and clutching her sides.

"It's a mixture of B-blood, and poison." She informed between ragged breaths.

"He never was good at cleaning his tracks, was he?" Jiraiya simply said as he glared at the dried blood. "And I'm sure you also identified whose blood that was."

Tsunade nodded hesitantly, "Minato and Kushina." And suddenly her panic, and discomfort transformed into a boiling rage and she struck the ground causing the ground to shatter and erupt due to the shockwave of energy. "That fucking bastard Orochimaru never learns."

 _January 11_ _th_ _, X774_

"Dark mages?" Naruto questioned as he used a mug to drink little bit of orange juice.

Makarov, sitting on the bar stool next to Naruto at the same height, nodded sagely, "There are those who use their magic for evil deeds even when outlawed by the Magic Council." Naruto nodded silently hearing those words and oddly began staring into his half empty mug of juice. "Don't ever attempt to fight one alone." Makarov advised, unknown that his advice had fallen on deaf ears.

Cana, who was sitting on the opposite side of Naruto, looked at her friend with peaking curiosity.

A wall to the side of the guild hall entrance crashed open as cubes of brick fell with a thud onto the floor catching everyone's attention.

A single, built, man with orange hair with a tattered cloak attached via shoulder plate billowed behind him and a long dark pants. He waved as a careless grin arose on his face, "Yo, I'm back."

"Gildarts, you were literally a foot away from the entrance would it have killed you to use the door for a change." Makarov barked and used his magic to enlarge his hand over to Gildarts and give him a hard chop on the head.

Cana squirmed in a mixture of discomfort and embarrassment at the man's appearance but Naruto hadn't noticed in favor of taking attention of the man's name.

"Oh, you're Gildarts." Naruto approached the man and quickly dug into his pockets. "Ero-sennin wanted me to give you this." He pulled out an unopened letter.

Gildarts looked at the new face for a few seconds before snatching the letter from his hands. "Ero-sennin?" The brown-haired mage muttered. His eyes skimmed through the letter before he burst into laughter. "Ero-sennin? I'm never letting Jiraiya live this down." Gildarts clutched his sides so that he didn't fall onto his sides.

Cana slowly came next to Naruto and stared up at Gildarts in discomfort.

"So, you're Jiraiya's apprentice." Gildarts said looking over the boy with a furrowed brow. "Maybe I should get an apprentice before I get old too." He chuckled slightly before noticing the presence of Cana. "Maybe you should be my apprentice Cana." He said as he bent down to her eye level and rubbed hair lightly. In his laughing, he failed to notice her attempts to speak.

Still in a joking manner Gildarts popped into the seat Cana had been sitting on at the bar and tossed a coin to the bartender. "Drinks on me as long as you pay for your own!" He grinned to the rise and fall of elation at his words.

Naruto squinted at Gildarts and spoke, "That guy sure knows how to party right?" Naruto asked Cana and turned to his friend only to find her biting her lip and picking at the end of her dress.

The brunette sighed in boredom and regret before slumping into the seat she had usually slumped onto before Naruto had arrived.

Naruto looked at Cana in worry before noticing her brown lock of hair, and turning between Gildarts' hair and her own. The blond took at seat next to her and noted her somber face slumped into her arm. And right then, all at once, the dots connected.

"Cana, is Gildarts your dad?" Naruto whispered as he leaned into her ear. She nodded before slapping her face a few times to recompose herself.

"Hey Cana." Gray Fullbuster said as he sat down on the table the two sat in. When Cana gave a friendly wave back Gray turned to Naruto and gave a mix between a scowl and a smirk. "Namikaze." He stressed and furrowed a brow.

"Fullbuster." Naruto replied and gave a mixture of facial expressions as well.

Over the past half month and a few days that Gray had been in the guild, while Cana and Gray began a rather friendly relationship, Naruto and Gray began a stressing friendly rivalry.

"So, Gray how about I read your fortune?" Cana sighed with a tired hand in her palm, watching Gray and Naruto's glaring contest. Gray nodded with a smile and Cana began shuffling a deck of cards she had, laid them face down, and picked one up.

 _Something aims to defile you_

 _Watch what you do_

"Crap!" Gray cursed as he stood up and scratched his head as he looked at the card in wonder. He brought his hand in front of his face paranoidly and panicked. Naruto fell into a fit of laughter as a paranoid demeanor grew on Gray's face as he stumbled around the guild hall looking directly at his feet.

"You're totally going to prank him later." Cana deadpanned, deducing her prediction. She giggled watching Naruto's nod mid-laughter and joined watching Gray walk around like an idiot.

Naruto jumped towards the cat he had been chasing after to grab it but felt nothing but the ground as he fell and he let out an ell of irritation.

His brunette friend quickly gained the lead of him and threw a card in the area in front of the cat. "Barrier!" She shouted as the card landed in front of the cat and glowed. The orange cat then slammed into an invisible wall which glimmered slightly as it felt contact. And while the cat was confused and pawing at whatever wall it had hit Cana scooped it up and held it tightly.

"And another mission complete." Cana sighed and she bent down to retrieve her card with her free hand.

"Yup, maybe he'll finally stay in his house for more than one day this time." The blond sarcastically commenting as he gave Tora the evil eye. "How many times do we have to take this mission anyway?"

"As many times as possible, the lady said that if we keep taking it she'll double our reward." Cana informed him, for the seventh time the same day to be precise, and he gave the same grunting response.

Tora's owner had been surprised when her requests to find her cat had been accepted by the "Sages of the Arcana" and was originally expecting adult mages to be the ones retrieving her cat but when she found out it was two young kids she felt obliged to double their reward.

"Now we make 20 jewels!" Naruto sarcastically exclaimed. "Can't we take a more, interesting quest." Naruto more stated than questioned.

Cana shook her head in denial. "Not after that Vulcan incident. We need to now our limits." She wisely said as she began walking to the collection point.

"But you've been working on your _The Fool_ and I've been practicing on my magic too." Naruto begged.

"And whenever I use it I can't use any magic afterwards, it's still a little too powerful for me to constantly use." She replied. Naruto sighed, deep down knowing she was right but denying the truth and continued following her to the collection point.

"Thank you again." The lady said as she bear crushed an unwitting Tora with a hug and walked to her home.

"And now that that's done let's head back to the guild." Cana chirped as she began walking again, Naruto happily following alongside.

They walked in a comfortable silence as the passed the familiar streets and house on the way to the guild when they saw a familiar lock of brown hair. To Cana's dismay, it was Gildarts Clive walking briskly through the streets.

"Cana, now's your perfect chance to tell him." Naruto suggested happily only to regret his choice of words seeing Cana bite her lips.

She looked to her father, who was walking towards their direction with each step, and then Naruto who was watching her, and then the area around her. Abruptly grabbing Naruto's hands, she ducked into an alley off to the side and patiently waited for Gildarts to pass.

"I'm going to follow him for a little bit." She determinedly declared as she watched him walk off in the distance.

Naruto just looked at her shock for a second, "Are you sure?" He questioned with a worried tone.

"Of course. I haven't really seen him outside of the guild so I just want to see something." And without a second word she darted off after the _Crash_ mage. Naruto hastily followed behind in worry. He'd never seen Cana like this before, in fact, his brunette best friend usually advised him not to do crazy things and here she was doing this.

The two watched Gildarts walk into a small pub in the opposite direction of the guild hall and Cana pulled Naruto in the alley between the pub, and the building next to it.

"We're not old enough to enter the pub…" Cana muttered, mainly to herself, and cast a glance around to see a window just a little higher than her. "There's a window, give me a boost." She said and moved Naruto below the window.

"What? I- " He began but he felt Cana bend him over and climb onto his back.

With the interior now in her sights thanks to the window she scanned around for her father's familiar brown locks. She spotted him taking a seat on a barstool, next to two women. Cana gave an audible huff, as she watched the scene for a few minutes and then watched her father finish his mug and prepare to leave.

"Did you see anything?" Naruto questioned as Cana hopped off her back, his friend shook her head in denial not wanting to tell her friend about the women.

"He's heading back out." She informed, she could pretty much tell that he didn't have a new wife now seeing how he acted around woman, it didn't seem like he had a new wife. Howe0ver, she still felt the desire to follow him a bit more. She peeked her head over the corner of the alley way, back into the street, to see Gildarts exit the pub and walk in the opposite direction again.

Cana ducked back into the alley motioned a reluctant Naruto to follow, and turned back to follow her father. But now he was nowhere to be seen. She frantically searched the street for him to no avail and then a voice from behind her caused her to jump.

"Yo." She heard Gildarts say as she felt herself being picked up from the back of her dress. Naruto now dangled from the back collar of his shirt in Gildarts' other hand. "It was just you kids following me." Naruto gulped as he attempted to squirm his way out of Gildarts' grasp. "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you." He assured Naruto and the Uzumaki's squirming lessened.

Cana stared up at her father with a trembling mouth, and she could feel a now slightly calmed down Naruto nudging her to speak.

"I... We… we were just bored and decided to follow you around." Cana lied through her teeth and gave a fake sheepish smile to accompany it.

Gildarts raised a brow but chuckled as he set the two young mages down. "Just make sure not to get into too much trouble." And carelessly the unknowing father of Cana walked away.

Naruto and Cana remained in an uncomfortable silence as they watched Gildarts disappear into the streets of Magnolia. It wasn't till Naruto awkwardly ended the silence that Cana spoke.

"Cana that was your chance…" Naruto said worryingly as Cana's eyes still stared blankly in the direction her father walked off to.

"How would you know?!" She snapped turning to face Naruto. "He doesn't even know I exist and seems to flirt with any random woman he meets." Her anger drained away as she saw Naruto step back a little hurt and she cringed in regret, "Wait I didn't mean th-"

"It's okay, I'm sure pressuring you into saying it isn't really helping and I shouldn't pry." Naruto sat down against the wall sullenly.

Cana took a deep breath and accompanied her friend on the side of the wall, "I'm sorry, I know I was being selfish with just blindly chasing after him but…" She began in regret as she started her habit of picking at her dress again. "I just don't know how to muster up the courage to tell him. He's famous, and powerful… he's even an S-class mage." The _Card_ mage stopped for a second. Biting her lips as tears began welling up, before proceeding. "And I'm just me… I'm not famous or powerful… what if he doesn't want me or hates me when he finds out." She covered her head with her knees, hiding her face from the blond's azure eyes.

Naruto listened to his friend pour out her feelings in silence and put a hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort, "It doesn't matter if you're not strong because we'll get stronger, together and then you can tell Gildarts the truth!" Naruto cheered a reassuring smile planted on his face.

"You mean it?" She questioned quietly after a few seconds of silence.

"I promised my parents I would be a strong mage, so as long as we stay together we'll be strong mages together!" Naruto reassured before embracing his friend in a hug, "And if he does hate you, he doesn't know that he's missing out on an awesome person."

Cana nodded and wiped her tears away, a small smile growing on her face, "Naruto, I'm sorry for dragging you into this but thanks for listening."

The blond shook his head, "Don't be, it's what friends are for." He stated and helped his friend stand up. He grinned seeing the happier mood his friend was in. "Let's head back to the guild!" He chirped.

Now smiling noticeably brighter, Cana nodded and took Naruto's hand, happily walking back to the guild.

The next morning Gray Fullbuster would wake up, following his daily morning routine and find that his shirt was glued onto his body temporarily.

 **A/N: This chapter was somewhat short but trust me the next one is longer.**


	4. War Game

**Toad Saged! Chapter Four: War Game**

 **A/N: Rudeness and flames through PMs and Reviews will not be tolerated and will be ignored, if you have a question or criticism please leave them with etiquette thank you.**

 _December 2_ _nd_ _, X779_

"And after winning in the war against Bosco on December 2nd, X575 Fiore officially gained its independence after a long-fought war." Makarov finished telling his story sagely as he sat in front of the latest generation of Fairy Tail who were huddled up in a long circle.

In the six years Naruto had joined Fairy Tail many more children around his age group joined.

After Gray joined a scarlet haired female found her way to Fairy Tail. Erza Scarlet hadn't been the friendliest person Naruto had met at first but after a while she warmed up to everyone. While her strict and leading ways sometimes annoyed Naruto he still considered her a friend.

After Erza was a rather interesting pink haired boy, who was Naruto's self-proclaimed rival. Natsu Dragneel had apparently lost his dragon father and after being found by Makarov joined the guild. The most interesting thing about the boy was that he knew _Dragon Slayer magic_ , and after hearing Naruto state that "Toads kill Dragons" started a blood feud with Naruto, the two had fun messing around with each other however.

Next was a trio of white-haired siblings who joined Fairy Tail after their parents had died. The youngest was Lisanna Strauss, a kind girl who Naruto treated as akin to a younger sister, the middle child was Elfman Strauss, who was a timid boy that secretly looked up to Naruto like a brother figure.

And finally, Mirajane Strauss, the eldest Strauss child, who Naruto had made the mistake of pranking on her a while after joining the guild. While the _Take Over_ mage had been as stand off-ish as Erza when she first joined, she soon developed a devilish mean streak. Mira had a rather delinquent personality and didn't take the prank lightly, and proceeded to use her magic to fight the blond mage. And after an intense fight, and a shattered guild hall, the two shared a laugh and came to become close friends, Mira still tended to bad mouth him however.

Just as Naruto had promised, Cana and he had made many more friends.

"Wow a ten-year magic war… that sounds intense." Elfman stated in awe after Makarov finished his story.

"More like awesome! Imagine all of the fights!" Natsu exclaimed stuck in a wonderstruck gaze.

"That doesn't sound all that fun to me Natsu…" Lisanna muttered, she had been clutching Natsu's shirt from behind throughout the entire story.

"Trust me, it probably isn't." Erza added having had given her most undivided attention to Makarov.

"As if little miss scarlet isn't already feeling her head with the thoughts of leading an entire war, much less an army." Mira rolled her eyes at Erza's words.

Cana chuckled at Erza and Mira's usual antics of fighting before getting back to the topic at hand, "War doesn't sound that fun to me."

"Sounds kind of boring to me." The Uzumaki said sitting back and gazing around the room listening to everyone's reactions to the story of Fiore's independence before stopping at Gray who was strangely staring into space. "What do you think Gray?"

Gray shook his head as his mind found its way back to Earth Land and he strangely shivered before speaking, "It's a little weird that that Bosco place used demons in the war."

"But I thought demons were fake." Elfman cowered slightly at the word.

"Elfman I think the only evidence we need of demons is your sister." Naruto chuckled before feeling a fist smash into his stomach and send him flying towards the guild walls.

"Alright that's enough." Makarov said as he used his _Titan Magic_ to catch Naruto before he crashed into the wall. Mira retained her smirk as her guild master dropped the blond mage to the ground.

"Worth it." Naruto weakly replied as he stood up.

"Now go out and enjoy yourselves, this celebration only happens once a year." Makarov ordered and used his magic once again to slide the group of mages to the door.

The town of Magnolia was decorated in the brilliant color of gold, Fiore's national color. Banners and flags flowed freely amongst almost every single store and building. And the streets were bustling with a festive air as people joyously walked through the streets laughing, chatting, and buying many things to represent their nation proudly. The weather was also a perfect, sky blue cloudless across the horizon.

And the festive air was downright infectious, as the young mages of Fairy Tail walked through the town they couldn't help but share a grin or smile at the sight set before them.

"I can't wait for the fireworks!" An elated Lisanna said happily with a skip in her step.

"Fireworks don't start till a little later at night sis." Elfman informed, noticeably more relaxed than his incredibly timid demeanor thanks to the lively atmosphere.

"Well I suppose we can do some other festival activities while we wait for them to start." Erza said with a light smile as she eyed some of the various festival stalls. She glanced at Natsu as she could feel him preparing to jolt off into any direction. "And make sure to rendezvous at South Gate Park so we can watch the fireworks."

And with that Natsu bolted off to a stall, resembling a food eating contest, with a reluctant Elfman and Lisanna tailing him behind. Quickly afterwards Naruto gestured a "see you later" motion to Cana as he was dragged off by Mira clutching his collar. Strangely enough Gray was nowhere to be seen.

"I guess that just leaves you and me." Erza said as she looked at Cana, the only other person remaining. The brunette gave a friendly smile to the _Requip_ mage before following her walk into the center of Magnolia.

Cana and Erza walked in a small, slightly awkward silence as they walked down the cheery streets. The brunette had considered Erza a friend but she never had talked to her one-on-one, and she kind of always felt a little intimidated by her strict, authoritative nature.

"You can relax I'm just here to have fun." Erza broke the ice with a small smile. "Anyway…" Erza began as she gave Cana a teasing look. "Is there anyone in the guild who suits your fancy?"

Cana looked at Erza in surprise, having not expected her to ask such a question. She pondered a quick second before deciding that Erza wasn't the type to tell secrets before speaking, "I kind of do have a small crush on Macao." The _Card_ mage blushed lightly.

"Wow you're into older men," Erza giggled causing the blush on the _Card_ mage's face to grow darker. "Well that's certainly not what I expected."

Cana narrowed her eyes, losing her blush. "And just who did you expect?" Erza shook her head nonchalantly with a smirk. "Alright then, is there anyone you like?" Cana said mocking Erza's teasing demeanor while nudging her with an elbow.

"Me? You couldn't pay me a million jewels to fall for any of those idiots." The two shared a laugh at Erza's remark.

"That'll be 100 jewels." Said a with a balding head, scruffy beard, and a pair of sunglasses. He sat behind one of the various festival stalls in the streets and next to him laid a large bowl filled with a large sum of jewels. The man in front of him reached into his pocket and pulled a sack of jewels.

The _Card_ mage's eyes turned to a small chalkboard plastered next to the stand and read what it said.

 _Fortune Telling Stand_

 _100 Jewels = One Telling_

She turned back to the stand with piqued interest, she had never seen a fortune teller besides her mom before.

The balding man placed his deck of cards in front of him and shuffled it dealer style. After a few cuts, he set the cards back down and picked the first one up. "You'll be met with a visitor you hate." The balding man opened his eyes to see the man staring back at him in confusion. "That's it now scram!"

"He's scamming you." Cana interjected as she cut into the front of the line and stared at the man. "First, he's not even using the right deck of cards, second, he's not even channeling any magic into the cards." Cana smirked as she watched the man growl.

"Give me my money back!" The man who had been scammed yelled angrily as he snatched his sack of jewels.

The man behind the festival stand glared at Cana before reaching for the bowl of jewels preparing to make a run only to find a blade brandished towards him. Erza had requiped a sword and pointed it in his face. Seeing the scarlet haired teen use magic the man scanned her over before his eyes widened in recognition.

"Y-You're that scarlet _Requip_ mage from Fairy Tail." He stammered as sweat dripped down his cheek, he looked at Cana before his eyes widened again. "And you're that _Card_ mage! I'm out of here." And with that he ran off, without the money.

The latest generation of Fairy Tail mages had slowly started to begin making a name for themselves, at least within Magnolia and surrounding towns. Erza was forerunning the Fairy Tail name with her name being praised and feared throughout Fiore. Mirajane was similar but more feared than praised due to her demon-like handling of her clients. Naruto and Cana had started making names for themselves on a smaller level but nonetheless the two were content with the progress they had made since forming a team. Even Natsu had begun making a name for himself in Magnolia.

Gossip in Fairy Tail suggested that the first four would be the next, and youngest, contestants for the next year's S-Class Promotion Trials.

The two teens smirked at their success before Cana stood behind the stand and pulled out her own deck of cards she used for fortune telling. "I'll take your fortune, for free!" She chirped and quickly gave an accurate fortune.

After watching Cana take the man's fortune Erza clapped with a smile gracing her lips. "Impressive."

Cana grinned in pride before standing up from her seat and following her scarlet haired friend towards another stand.

At the same time, Naruto found himself pushed in front of a very eccentric house as Mira crouched next to him.

The house looked incredibly dry and dusty even from the outside. The roof was broken with several chunks being missing or beginning to bend off it, the windows were boarded up by wood and nails, and the vegetation around it was overgrown and gave off a forestry stench.

"And what's this?" Naruto asked curiously as he approached the front, spiked, gates.

"This is a haunted house, which represents one of the demons that the first Fiore army found themselves pitted against in the war." A man, strangely dressed in a butler attire.

"Haunted?" Naruto questioned as a chill ran down his spine.

"You don't have a problem with that do you, Froggy?" Mira devilishly lets the words slowly roll off her tongue as she spoke with a sneering smirk.

Naruto ignored the nickname Mira had grown accustomed to calling him as he puffed his chest slightly and dropped 200 jewels so that both he and Mira could enter. He turned back to Mira and smirked before opening the gates himself and walking into the house. The _Take Over_ mage snickered before following him in.

Naruto was met with darkness as he walked down the first corridor in the house, still waking a few feet in front of Mira. He could barely see in front of him, with only a small dim light far up ahead giving him a small essence of sight. As he walked closer to it he gradually slowed his pace to meet with Mira, terrified.

"Mira?" The blond turned around to see that Mira was nowhere to be seen. He looked around his dim-lit surrounding as he edged towards the wall in fear. "Haha, very funny Mira now come on out."

"Boo!" Came from directly in front of Naruto in a white blur and the blond mage jumped in shock, Naruto's face quickly became pale and he fell back onto the floor unconscious.

Mira dropped her _Take Over_ form as she crouched low to inspect her friend's form. She snickered before picking him up.

A few minutes later, Naruto blinked into consciousness as the bright sunlight was blocked the crouching figure of Mira waiting for him to wake up. The blond felt the stone steps on his back, suggesting that he was outside on the haunted house's stone steps.

"Oh, you're going to regret that one." Naruto groaned as he glared at Mira who was helping him back on his feet.

"Try me." Mira smirked, referencing one of their first encounters, and the two exited the area. The white-haired mage wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulder as she plastered a victorious devilish smile on her face. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of fucking with you Froggy."

"You're not bad yourself." Naruto smirked back as they walked further from the house remembering the time he had first pranked the Strauss.

" _She's gonna kill you." Cana said as Naruto watched the door cautiously._

" _She had it coming." Naruto replied, still watching the entrance with narrowed eyes._

 _The previous day, Mirajane Strauss had changed her entire demeanor towards the guild. She stopped hanging with only her siblings and attempted to talk to her age mates… or more fight them. She acted like, as Natsu dubbed, a demon._

 _She found annoyance in Erza and before long the two got into a major fight which quickly sprawled into a guild-wide brawl. Naruto had tried to stop her but only was met with a boot in the face and the words: "Can it Froggy."_

 _Cana expected Naruto to join the fight but oddly enough, he didn't which was a great surprise to her and Gray. She deadpanned when she watched Naruto setting up a prank after all guild members, but the Strauss' had shown up. It was just like her best friend to do a revenge prank._

" _Anyway, I'll make it my commemoration for her finally joining us." The blond said with a grin._

 _Cana deadpanned, "I don't need to tell your fortune to know she's still going to kill you."_

 _Abruptly, the guild hall doors opened with a loud slam and standing with a lifted foot was Mirajane an annoyed look on her face, with Lisanna and Elfman behind her._

" _No Lisanna, I do not like that Erza bi- KYAH!" Mira screamed as she walked into a long line of oil and began slipping about. Her arms flailed in the air as she attempted to regain her balance but it was too late. The Strauss slipped forward and soon crashed into the storage closet the trail of oil had led to. As she crashed into the room she heard a pot, filled with some liquid, fall and she felt herself become bathed in slime._

 _Naruto fell on the floor laughing, failing to realize his best friend slowly walking away from the table, not wanting to face the wrath of the Strauss._

" _Sis?" Elfman called nervously, ignoring the loud laughter from Naruto and watching the approaching form of sister emerge from the closet cautiously._

" _Who?" Mira breathed as she appeared out of the closet. She was covered in a strange, viscous slime. It was frog slime. The Take Over mage's head snapped into the direction the sound of laughter came from and she narrowed her eyes before charging._

" _Hah- oof." Naruto coughed as he was tackled to the ground, he attempted to move but Mira crouched above him, blocking any chance of him standing back up. Naruto continued to chuckle as the slime slid onto his torso informing him that his prank was a success. "That'll teach ya!"_

 _Mira looked at Naruto with a strange look that caused the blond to stop laughing for a second. The Strauss bit her lip furiously as they trembled and she cocked a fist back in the air._

" _You can't stop me from joining this guild!" She screamed making Naruto's eyes grow wide._

" _I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto replied as he looked into Mira's eyes. There was utter fury, but deep down he could see a little hurt._

 _Then he noticed the fact that she was no longer wearing the purple cloak that she had worn the past few days. She now wore a short shirt, that exposed her midriff and the upper portion of her chests, shorts, and thigh-high boots. Her hair was tied into a long pony tail, with three bangs sticking out, two that stretched below her chin on each side, and a short one on her forehead. It screamed gothic but also showed that she was beginning to open up._

" _I was just pranking you, I usually do it to everyone that joins the guild." The Uzumaki continued truthfully. He had done a prank to Erza and Natsu as soon as they joined the guild as well. "And plus, you called me Froggy yesterday." Naruto finished with a huff of slight annoyance and mostly comfort._

" _Stop lying…" Mira heaved and she thrust her fist to punch the Uzumaki, who closed his eyes and braced. Her fist stopped inches away from his face when she heard a familiar laughter from behind her._

" _Sis, he's telling the truth he's was just playing a prank." Lisanna giggled cutely as she ran up to her elder sister._

" _Yeah sis, it's kind of like he was welcoming us into the guild." Elfman laughed and followed._

 _Mira looked at her younger siblings in bewilderment before a dust of pink colored her cheeks and she turned back to Naruto. Now realizing that the trick wasn't an attempt to deter her, or her siblings, from joining the guild she attempted to dust off a little slime on Naruto before helping him up._

" _Sorry." She said as she scratched her head sheepishly._

" _Its fine." Naruto grinned before placing his hand out. "And the name's not Froggy. Its Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, NA-RU-TO… and it's a toad not a frog!" He proudly pointed to the toad shirt he was wearing._

 _The blond didn't find a shaken hand as a reply but felt a slimy knee connect with his gut. "Mirajane Strauss Mi-RA-JANE and you're going to regret doing this to me." Mira mimicked the greeting and walked out of the guild hall, probably heading home to take a shower. Anyone who saw her would see that a smile had now graced her face._

 _After clutching his stomach weakly and taking a breath of air, Naruto beamed at the leaving girl, "Try me!"_

 _The entire guild roared in laughter at the entire exchange and suddenly started another party, further commemorating the Strauss family joining the guild._

" _Pay up." Cana said to Gray with a cheeky smirk and Gray begrudgingly held out a sack of jewels._

The young mages stared at the sky as the sun slowly began to set shifting the sky's color from an orange hue to a darker shade. It would only be a few minutes till the fireworks lacrima would be activated which began the main event for the evening. The fireworks were being blasted directly from Magnolia Town Square but the Fairy Tail mages had decided to relax in South Gate Park since it was a lot quieter, and a lot less crowded.

Natsu groaned as the night encompassed the sky, giving a beautiful starry sky, and nothing began happening, "This is taking forever."

Just then a loud voice, being broadcasted over the town's speaker lacrima, rang into all their ears. "WE'RE HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE LACRIMA! SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE!" The voice boomed.

"Well I guess that answers your question." Gray said with a sigh as he sunk into the grass and closed his eyes.

"But what do we do until then?" Cana questioned with a light sigh.

"The other festival stands are closed so we have nothing better to do but wait." Lisanna said noticeably deflated.

Natsu's eyes quickly flashed in excitement as he jumped up. "We could start a war!" The dragon slayer exclaimed causing all his friends to sweat drop.

"I don't think that's how wars work Natsu." Naruto deadpanned at his friend.

"Remember that story Jiji told us about, that Fiore-Bos- whatchamacallit war." The dragon slayer said gaining nods from his friends. "Well why don't we play war!?" Natsu shouted once again as a bit of fire erupted in his mouth due to excitement.

Naruto grinned as he stood up next to the blond. "Like a fight between all of us?!"

"Wow Natsu, that sounds like the smartest thing you've said… ever." Gray said with a smirk as he stood up next to his friends.

"Sorry but no, if we go all out we'll end up just destroying the park. Which would only lead to more problems for master." Erza strictly informed as she approached Naruto and Gray with a glare for supporting such a dumb idea.

"Don't think you can handle to fight, your coward bastard." Mira sneered as she joined her friends. She cackled as Erza growled at her with a noticeable spark within her eyes.

"That sounds like a lot of fun!" Lisanna exclaimed as she jumped to her feet in glee.

"I'll do it if you guys do… but I'm not that strong." Elfman stammered as he followed his sisters up.

"If we're really doing this then how about we even the playing field with teams. There's eight of us so we get into teams of four." Cana suggested with a smirk seeing the nods of approval she got, along with a strangely fierce one from Erza.

"Well then we'll need team leaders." Gray added with another nod in unison.

"Erza's a definite candidate for that." Cana replied.

Erza bowed respectfully as she accepted the offer and then spared Mira another devil-like smile, plans already forming in her head.

"And if you're a leader the other should be…" Everyone switched their gaze from Erza to her white-haired rival before quickly shifting back to the _Requip_ mage after shivering at the idea.

"Cana you'd be a great leader!" Naruto chirped happily as he grinned at his best friend.

Cana watched in shock as everyone, besides Mira, gave another nod in agreement. "M-Me?" She pointed to herself in disbelief.

"Of course!" Naruto continued before whispering into Cana's ear while blocking his mouth. "And plus, Mira's really the only other option and I'm sure nobody wants the hell that is Mira as a leader." He gave a cautious glance at Mira before stepping back, which left the brunette and the scarlet-haired mage in front of the group of friends.

"Then let's decide orders of choosing teams." Erza said giving a friendly smile to Cana and placing her fist out in the open. Cana nodded, still slightly dazed by the fact that she was going to be a leader in the fight, and placed her fist out front.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" The group of mages watched in a strange intensity as the two swung their fists back and forth before stopping with the final word.

Erza had scissors, Cana had paper.

"So, I'll pick first." Erza said before pointing at Gray.

"Huh?" Gray uttered in shock before walking to Erza's side. He had assumed that he was going to be on Cana's team and the fact that Ezra had picked him first was surprising to say the least.

Cana nodded before pointing to her best friend a noticeable satisfying grin on her face. "Naruto." The blonde stood up, a grin on his face also, and exchanged a swift hi-five. The blond was glad because being on a team with his partner was an advantage on its own, and because he was happy that he didn't have to be on a team with Erza as leader.

"Natsu." Erza said and the pink haired boy jumped onto Erza's side. His grin switched into scowl as realized that he was partnered with Gray. The two glared at each other before remembering that Erza was their leader, placing false grins, and buddying up.

"Lisanna." Cana announced and the brunette smiled when Lisanna skipped to her side happily.

With only two potential teammates left Erza knew her decision without a single thought. "Elfman." And the boy walked over to Erza's side gingerly with a small smile. He was happy that he wasn't chosen last.

Erza glared Mira down as the _Take Over_ mage walked to Cana's side being the only person left to pick.

"Alright we can spread out around South Gate Park and get five minutes for strategy before starting, any disagreements?" Cana questioned and the silence she received signaled an agreement. "Then let's start." And both teams broke off into runs, separating.

Cana took a deep breath as she and her team rested behind a large tree towards the center of the park. She snatched her deck out of her pockets before shuffling her magics cards akin to fidgeting.

"What's the plan, Leader Alberona?" Naruto said, mocking a soldier by giving a salute.

Cana held her laughter at Naruto's gesture and choice of words before speaking, feeling a strange confidence fill her with his words, "Our main threat is Erza, we'll have to take her out if we want to win." She informed to her teammates.

"Just leave the scarlet bitch to me." Mira cackled as she cracked her knuckles dangerously,

"Sis will be all we need to handle Erza, I'm not that strong so I can take on brother." Lisanna said curling up her palms into fist and pumping her fists into the air proudly. Mira smiled at her younger sister's spirit.

"And that leaves me and you with Gray and Natsu. Think we can take 'em?" Naruto inquired with a smirk.

"They won't stand a chance!" Cana smirked back before pulling out a small map of the park. "I saved this map to find the perfect spot to watch the fireworks but it might come in handy." She scanned the various benches, trees, and light posts highlighted on the map before speaking again. "Maybe we can find fighting spots to reduce the damage the park takes."

Everyone, including Cana, stifled a laugh at the words. A battle with Fairy Tail mages in the mix meant destruction no matter what.

All four nodded as they reached the five-minute pre-game strategy time limit. They turned and peered around the large tree to spot their targets. A shade of scarlet lowing hair appeared near the small neck of the woods towards the north of the park before disappearing in a rush.

Mira let loose another crazed cackle before darting off after her rival in a blur of white hair.

Lisanna gave a nod as she spotted what looked like her brother's familiar white hair vanish behind a nod. She used her magic to transform herself into a stripped cat before dashing off with haste.

Seeing their teammates run off in haste, Naruto and Cana shared a nod before Naruto felt the urge to duck.

"Lisanna?" Natsu questioned, as he watched his white haired best friend dash in front of him, in shock.

"Natsu?" Lisanna questioned in equal surprise as she recognized her best friend was not her brother.

Natsu looked between the patch of white hair on his head and Lisanna, then did a quadruple take before realizing what Erza had made him do. He would've face palmed at his own stupidity if he didn't have to dodge a claw that swiped in his direction.

"Hey, what was that for!?" Natsu yelled as he landed on his feet a few feet backwards.

"We're opponents!" Lisanna declared as she leaped back into Natsu's personal space to release another variety of slashes at Natsu.

The dragon slayer ignited his hands as he reeled a fist backwards, "Then I'm all fired up!" He grinned.

Gray dashed through the forest in haste, and slight fear as he clutched onto a bit of Erza's scarlet hair. He couldn't believe that the mage was so determined to win the fight that she cut off a bit of her hair to bait out Mira.

The _Ice Make_ mage gulped as he heard a sudden shift of wind from behind him and turned around to see Mira, with her white hair sticking up straight into the air, black wings stretched behind her back, yellow claws with scales where her hands and arms should've been, a red revealing attire which exposed her the middle of her torso, and a stocky, long tail with scales whipping behind her in anger.

"That bitch!" Mira yelled as she clenched her fists tightly and flew towards Gray without a second thought. Gray gulped as he braced for the impact.

As the Naruto flew downwards he felt a fast swipe move whiz through the area where he previously stood against the tree. Naruto watched a few locks of his hair gracefully fall and both he and Cana stared agape as they looked at the mages before them.

Erza smirked as she brandished her sword in Naruto's direction, seeing no signs of Mira or Lisanna, her plan was a success. "Elfman provide backup." The _Requip_ mage ordered.

"A-Aye!" Elfman answered as he morphed his arm, into a black furry one with sharp claws, using his _Take Over: Beast Soul_.

Shaking away the initial shock that Erza had bested her strategy, Cana drew her deck of cards and sprang into action. The brunette pulled out three glowing cards and flung them at her scarlet-haired friend, who proceeded to dodge the first two and slash the last one.

Naruto followed his brunette out of shock, used his magic to coat the bottom of his feet with oil and quickly slid across the floor with an open palm reeled back to attack Erza, who was pre-occupied with his partner.

He thrust his palm open as he began to reach into Erza's range but only contacted a furry, black fist. Elfman stared a Naruto, a strange determination in his eyes, as he blocked Naruto's path to Erza.

The blond smirked seeing Elfman with a fighting spirit. The Strauss attempted to swing his arm to knock Naruto off balance but the blond jumped off the _Beast Arm_ , now airborne.

" _Toad Sage: Oil Bullet!_ " Naruto casted, spitting three oil bullets from his mouth which whizzed towards Elfman. The Strauss covered himself with his large arm making the three shots of brownish-green oil cover it. He missed Naruto's smirk as the blond reeled his head back preparing to spit another attack. " _Toad Sage: Fire Bomb!"_

Naruto now spat forth a single flaming sphere of magical energy targeted at Elfman's arm. Hearing her partner launch a fire attack, Cana rolled sideways to avoid another slash from Erza and pulled another set of cards which began to float and glow in a curved line. They flashed once more before a wave of flames sparked to life and sped towards Elfman's back.

Realizing the situation, the Strauss attempted to use the strength of his arms to jump far into the air allowing his to avoid most of the attack. Unfortunately, he hadn't calculated the oil his arm was now coated in meeting Naruto's flame creating a small explosion that knocked him backwards, directly into Cana's flames.

A set of smoke encompassed the area around Elfman and Cana used the smoke as a cover to dash away from Erza, hiding her from the scarlet-haired mage's sight.

The center of the park remained in silence as the smoke slowly faded from existence leaving he sight of Naruto and Cana standing on opposite sides away from each, with Erza and an unconscious Elfman in between.

Erza walked forward and picked Elfman up before flashing a smile at his white-haired friend. "You did great." The Strauss gave a weak smile in response before stumbling backwards and sitting against a tree, now out of the battle.

Naruto gave a thumb up and grinned at Cana seeing the elimination and Cana gave a smile in response.

"I now see why you guys are a team, and I have to say you work great." Erza smirk before closing her eyes and giving a sagely nod. "But this is where the real fight begins." And a flash of light began to emanate from Erza's body causing the brunette and her partner to gulp realizing that Erza had only _Requiped_ her sword in the fight, not her armor.

The illuminating light burst into mini stars before disappearing leaving a spectacular sight before the two. Erza now stood proudly in pieces of silver meta covers her chest, shoulders, and arms in a feather-like fashion. From the bottom of her torso downwards was covered in a white dress, the top covered with a silver plating. Her feet were covered in dark silver, plated boots but most noticeably two pair of wings stretched from Erza's back made of sharp, silver, metallic feathers.

Both Naruto and Cana had the same thought, first Lisanna, and Mirajane could fly, and now Erza too!?

" _Blumenblatt!_ " Erza yelled and dashed forward with incredible speed while clutching the two swords in her hands.

Acting quickly, Cana pulled a card out that glowed a light green and flung it forward, in front of Erza, " _Barrier!_ " A slightly shimmering, invisible barrier appeared before Erza before the sound of shattered glass rang throughout the park. The _Requip_ mage dashed into the barrier with such speed that she broke it.

Naruto spewed a small torrent of oil from his mouth but didn't direct it at Erza. The torrent of oil found its way to the floor, right where Erza was dashing towards causing the said mage to slip losing most of the control of her dash while also breaking the concentration she had on her _Sword Magic_.

She still launched a slash towards Naruto as she passed by him, still speeding forward uncontrolled. She could feel, but not see, the blade slash with Naruto's side and smirked as she continued to slide towards a large tree. She calmly placed both her swords towards her chest before swinging both wide in delta formation as she got into the tree's range. " _Trinity Sword!_ "

The tree before her was cut in half and Erza used the contact her swords made as a chance to soar into the air. Just seconds afterwards, the tree crashed into the park ground with an audible thud.

Cana took a deep breath seeing the distance that Erza had made from her, using it as a chance to rest. " _Ice Make: Lance!"_ The brunette heard a yell from her side and felt a cold pillar of ice bludgeon her backwards.

Gray panted as he released his _Ice Make_ formation and clutched his knees tiredly. Any second now, Mira would realize that he escaped the forest and chase after him again. A few loud thuds sounded from the forest he had escaped form and he in turn gulped.

Naruto stood off the ground he kneeled on after Erza had attacked, he looked between Cana and Gray before turning his attention to Erza once again, he figured his partner could handle the ice mage. He placed his palm forward as a brown magic sigil appeared in front of it before a flaming foot slammed into his back.

Natsu grinned as his foot made impact and twisted his body to move backwards, behind his blond friend, "Dragons kill Toads!" Natsu yelled and stuck his tongue out causing Naruto to sweat drop. The pink-haired mage always decided to bring up the argument when they fought.

Naruto reeled back an open palm and slammed his yelling friend in the stomach before twisting his foot to kick him in the side. Natsu used his flames to boost forward, avoiding the kick, and hammered into the Uzumaki.

A massive grin struck his face marked his face as he watched Naruto slide back slightly only to watch Naruto slide back towards him quickly and slam two palm into him, with a final palm knocking him backwards into a bench.

The blond gave a weak smile before turning back to Erza. He laughed slightly as he watched Mira, still in her _Satan Soul_ form, delivering a barrage of punches into Erza who parried and blocked them with her swords, both still mid-air.

The Strauss deliver a satisfying uppercut and cackled once more as she watched Erza remain higher in the air. "Trying to flee?" Mira mocked, tilting her head upward to watch her rival.

Erza returned the mock with an evil laughter as several illuminated objects appeared above her in the air. Around 50-100 objects shaped as swords. Just below Erza a pink sigil appeared and span glowing brighter and brighter while the swords began pointing downwards. And quickly the swords began their descent towards the ground.

"Shit!" Mira cursed as she braced for the impact of the multitude of swords.

"Cana!" Naruto yelled and took a large gulp of air as he watched the oncoming swords, the swords would not only be striking Mira. _"Toad Sage: Fire Rain!"_ He yelled and released many balls of flame into the air.

"Got it!" Cana replied as she flung three more _Card Shurikens_ at Gray who was too distracted by Erza's swords to dodge them. Cana pulled out another threw before casting another spell. " _Wind Pandemonium!_ " She yelled as she pulled two cards and combined them for her spell. She threw the card towards the center of the flaming sphere and a gust of wind was generated in the area and Naruto's flames were enhanced burning bigger, brighter and generating more heating.

" _Great Toad's Oil Season!_ " Naruto shouted and released a large geyser of oil directly into the air. As the pulse of oil reached the peak of its ascent it began to rain and soon found contact with many of the enhanced flaming sphere Naruto had released.

The sounds of many explosion boomed across the park from high in the sky to low towards the ground and Naruto trembled from the numerous explosions generated in the area. As smoke quickly piled into the area Naruto could barely see a shiny object falling from the sky. Wait… it wasn't one shiny object it was many shiny objects.

Like a meteor shower, the remnants of Erza's swords which were destroyed from the blasts rained down. Naruto didn't get to utter a single word as one slammed into his head and knocked him out.

The young group of mages sighed as they sat amidst the destruction they had caused in South Gate Park.

Large trees were now trunkless and now laid on the ground broken, benches were broken and shattered to pieces, the small towers had gashes, punch marks, and were broken apart, and the ground was displaced with dirt now covering the area where grass was and some ground was even burnt.

But regardless of the ruin, the reason the mages were down was because they had missed the fireworks they had been looking forward to.

After Naruto and Cana's explosion combined with Erza's swords to cause utter destruction all the battle's participants were knocked unconscious and apparently only seconds afterwards the fireworks had started. The damage, and fatigue they had experienced in the battle now still left them tired.

"This sucks." Naruto deflated as he stared into the starry sky.

"You're the one that knocked us out idiot!" Gray said in annoyance as he sunk into the grass.

"Erza's at fault too." Mira said, a little too tired, as well as slightly deflated by seeing no fireworks, to yell obscenities.

"It was also my fault! Please hit me!" Erza exclaimed in shame as she bowed in front of the group.

"It's also kind of my fault that I used my wind to increase the damage." Cana admitted as she scratched her hair sheepishly.

"But it was super cool!" Natsu yelled stars in his eyes as he switched his gaze between Naruto and Cana frequently.

"It was pretty powerful." Lisanna said.

"And a little dangerous… maybe we shouldn't have done this in the park." Elfman added causing the entire group to give a sad sigh in agreement.

"Maybe we should make this a tradition!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin as he lost his sad demeanor, catching everyone's attention. "Every year instead of watching the fireworks we do an all-out battle!"

"I agree but maybe we should do it in the forest next time." Cana agreed and flashed her friend a smile.

"That sounds like a perfect idea!" Lisanna chirped in agreement and soon everyone agreed.

And now much happier the group of young mages continued to watch the starry sky.

"Hey guys? If someone did something to one of us what would you do?" Cana suddenly asked in a serious tone breaking the comfortable silence.

"I'd to war for you guys!" Naruto exclaimed as he pumped a fist into the air and everyone chuckled in agreement.

"If someone had the audacity to do something I'm sure we'd even go to war with another guild." Erza added.

"They wouldn't get away with it that's for sure." Mira stated a noticeable smirk crossing her face.

"Then let's promise on it." Lisanna suddenly said gaining everyone's attention. "Let's promise to fight for each other if something happens to us or someone else in the guild." The youngest member of the Strauss family placed an open hand out and gazed at her friends happily.

"I'm not that strong but if they messed with you guys I'd fight like a man." Elfman said and placed his hand in the center.

"They'd pay for messing with Fairy Tail!" Natsu shouted and joyfully placed his hand in the center.

"I wouldn't even think twice to fight for you guys, ya know!" Naruto exclaimed and placed his hand on top of Natsu's.

"I'd go to hell and back for you guys." Cana happily agreed and placed her hand on top of Naruto's.

"They wouldn't stand a chance." Mira smirked and added her hand to the growing pile.

"I'd risk and arm and a limb for the guild's sake." Erza nodded with closed eyes before joining.

"Count me in." Gray said finally and the group of friends grinned at each other.

The stars in the night sky sparkled a little brighter as the promise was made between the group of friends. This group of mages would end up doing many spectacular things, but for now they would just be known as the Fairy Tail mages that single handedly destroyed Magnolia's South Gate Park.

 **A/N: That fight was very difficult to write with so many fighters but it was fun to make. We never really saw many of their abilities they had when they were younger but I decided to use to the basic abilities they had since I assumed they would have used it when they were teens as well. And if you haven't noticed I'll be expanding on the worldbuilding of the FT universe outside of Fiore much more than in the manga.**


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